Quebec MP Alexandre Boulerice announces he's leaving NDP, will run provincially for Québec Solidaire

Alexandre Boulerice, Quebec's only if remaining federal soldier NDP MP, proclaimed on mon morning time his intention to leave the party and run provincially for Québec Solidaire.

"I hope there will be some progressists or left-wing people in the Parliament of Canada, and I will be happy when Quebec will be sovereign to work with them for a better North America," Boulerice said.

He made the announcement from his current federal riding of Rosemont—La Petite-Patrie, which he's held since 2011. He was flanked by Québec Solidaire's co-spokespersons Ruba Ghazal and Sol Zanetti, who welcomed him into the party.

"It’s very good and important news not only for Québec Solidaire, but also for Quebecers," said Ghazal.

"We need progressive people like Alexandre. He did so much for the people in this riding, and he will continue to do so if he’s elected in October."

Boulerice confirmed he would run in the provincial riding of Gouin in Montreal which overlaps with his federal riding. Gouin is the current riding of the former co-spokesperson for Québec Solidaire, Gabriel Nadeau-Dubois, who has said he will leave politics at the end of his mandate.

Boulerice said he considers the move to be a sort of homecoming. He said it will allow him to continue representing his political values as a progressist and humanist — values he feels are aligned with the Québec Solidaire party, which focuses on public services, workers' rights and women's rights.

The Gouin riding has consistently voted Québec Solidaire since 2012, but the party has lagged in the polls recently. Earlier this month, poll aggregator Qc125 showed the party polling at around 8 per cent of the vote, behind all other major parties.

Boulerice said he's not concerned about polls, though, and doesn't let them determine his political actions.

Québec Solidaire was founded 20 years ago when several progressive provincial parties merged — some of them whose roots trace back to a disbanded Quebec wing of the NDP.

The departure of Boulerice is a major blow to the NDP. Without him, the party will hold only five seats out of a total of 343 in the House of Commons. Those five seats are all west of Ontario.

Zanetti pointed out Boulerice has already lived an "orange wave," under former NDP leader and Quebec MP Jack Layton in 2011, "so why not [do] another one?"

"He’s giving us a lot of hope."

In 2019, former NDP leader Jagmeet Singh made Boulerice the party's deputy leader, saying he was the best person to support the party's "ongoing efforts to reconnect with progressives in Quebec."

"Mr. Boulerice is Quebec's best-known MP," former NDP strategist Farouk Karim told Radio-Canada at the time.

Boulerice had expressed interest in making the leap to provincial politics prior to Avi Lewis' NDP leadership win last month. At a recent byelection event, Lewis said that he'd asked Boulerice to "please stay."

When Boulerice was asked how he felt to essentially "erase the NDP from the province," he responded that sometimes in the history of a party, there are ups and downs. But he has faith in Lewis' ability to "reconnect with the hearts and minds of Quebecers."

Ghazal hinted on Monday that there will be more announcements coming from Québec Solidaire, as the party aims to grow its presence at Quebec's National Assembly this fall.

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